Klaus’s POV
I was in the old alpha’s office pacing back and forth seething in rage. I could still feel the wound on my shoulder as it was healing from the silver knife that stupid, yet brave, girl threw at me. My mind went back to that moment in the woods when I laid eyes on her for the first time.
Me and my inner circle were going to visit the Grey’s pack; which were actually now a part of the Crescent Moon, before sunrise. I wanted to check on a few things before the submission ceremony. We were running separately from each other, as I needed some space and quiet to gather my conflicted thoughts. That’s when I saw her.
I stopped and stared in surprise at the girl standing in front of me. I wasn’t expecting to find anyone out here at this hour. It wasn’t just that, it was also the fact that she was covered from head to toe in mud. Why the hell was she covered in so much mud? It looked like she fell straight into a mud swamp. I tried to sniff her real scent but couldn’t. That’s when it clicked in my head, she was covering her scent with mud on purpose.
She was either a half blood or a human. There was no way she was pure seeing as she wasn’t in her wolf form. I shifted back to human and watched her. She was catching her breath from all the running she must have been doing. There was a genuine joyful smile on her face. She was so happy about something. She looked up at the sky, closed her eyes and covered them with her hands. What the hell was she doing out here?
I asked the question out loud without thinking. She was so startled by me. She was looking at me with her big brown eyes. I could almost smell her intense fear my presence has erupted. All that joy and happiness were gone from her face. I was too distracted by her appearance that I barely had time to register that she was throwing two knives at me. I cursed myself for being so distracted and blocked them easily. Luckily for me, she appeared to be out of practice, or I would have probably dropped dead right this instant. I was too stunned that she was trying to kill me, I couldn’t block the third knife on time. This one held a lot more strength and precision indicating she was actually left handed. She probably threw the first ones in an attempt to distract me so she could throw the knife that will actually kill me.
I barely had time to move just a fraction, so that the knife stabbed me in my shoulder instead of my heart. Who the hell was this girl? She had a lot of nerves trying to kill her alpha. Of course I was certain she had no idea who I actually was. To add to my surprise, the knife was silver, it will take hours to heal. Ok, this girl is so fucking dead. I was beyond mad. I was mad at myself mostly, I let a little girl throw knives at me! And one of them actually hit me! I looked up just in time to watch her disappear into the forest.
I mind linked my group instantly. She is not going anywhere. “Heads up, we have a runaway. She is heading to the town and stabbed me with a knife when she saw me. Don’t let her escape I want her alive!” I barked my alpha orders at them.
“She stabbed you! Are you okay alpha?” asked my beta Joseph in concern
“I am fine, she hit me in the shoulder. Look out for the smell of mud. She used it to cover her scent and pass by patrol undetected” I said as I removed the knife from my shoulder. It was hurting like hell now. I shifted and started running.
“Clever tactic, I’ll give her points for that, as well as points for catching you off guard enough to manage to hit you” taunted Joseph, all concern he had for me gone.
“Haha very funny, I am right behind you” I replied in anger. He was right of course, I let my guard down. A mistake I’ll never make twice.
“I caught her” said Joseph
“I’ll be right there” I said as I increased my speed.
We all reached the clearing at the same time. Joseph held her down, but didn’t hurt her. “Damn Klaus, she looks very young, how old is she?”
I shifted back to human form. The shift caused my wound to bleed and I was filled with rage all over again. If she were a man, she would be torn to shreds right now.
“Do the questioning Joseph. I don’t think I can control myself” I mind linked him, while asking him to shift back out loud.
He shifted and tried to help her up. She thought he was going to hurt her, as she put up her arms to protect her face.
“I wasn’t going to hurt you, little girl. I was trying to help you get on your feet” he said gently.
She glared at him and got to her feet on her own. The hat that she was using to cover her hair with stayed on the ground when she got up revealing a golden, voluminous, very long curly hair. She was practically glowing with that hair, as I realized that she was probably hiding it for that exact reason. I took a good look at her underneath all that mud, dirt, and hostility. She was very tiny, she wouldn’t probably reach my shoulder. Her face had these big brown eyes that distracted me earlier. Her lips were full and pink. She was probably a very beautiful girl when she cleaned up. I cursed myself immediately. How could you look at her like this Klaus? I chastised myself. It doesn’t matter if she was beautiful or not. She is not Kate. She will never be.
“What is your name little girl?” asked joseph calmly
“Ella” she turned her head towards him and answered reluctantly
“How old are you Ella?”
“Seventeen”
He narrowed his eyes a little and mind linked me “Damn Klaus, she is not even 18 yet, don’t tell me you are planning on punishing her?”
“She tried to fucking kill me with a silver knife, what do you think?” I mind linked back in fury.
“Do your parents know what you are up to at this time?” asked Joseph
“I have no one, I’m a servant at the pack house”
“Great! you wanna punish a little poor orphan girl who has probably been mistreated her entire life as a servant” thought Joseph miserably. I ignored him.
“Well, Ella don’t you know that you are forbidden from leaving the pack without your alpha’s permission?” he asked
“My alpha died this morning, I have no alpha” she answered with a challenge coloring her voice.
“Poor little orphan girl huh? She is anything but that apparently” I thought back at Joseph. It was his time to ignore me now.
He looked amused by her answer before saying “Then you must know that when the alpha is killed by another alpha, then the alpha who killed him becomes the new alpha of the pack”
“He’s not my alpha yet, I didn’t submit to him” she fires back at him. My anger rolls off me in waves. “Calm down Klaus, she is clueless to this politics crap” Joseph tried to reason with me.
“None the less, he is still your alpha with or without submission, you can’t leave the pack if he doesn’t allow it” answered joseph cautiously before adding “And if I were you right now, I’d watch what I am saying about the alpha, considering you just tried to kill him with your knife” and nodded in my direction.
I watched the blood drain from her face as she slowly turned to look at me. All that smirking and challenging was replaced by one thing only, pure fear. I felt a little of my anger slip away as I saw her fear of me mirrored in her big brown eyes. She was too shocked to say anything.
“Now you have nothing to say?” I ask with raised eyebrows.
She looked down to the ground and answered in a small voice “I didn’t know you were the alpha when I threw the knives at you”
“It doesn’t matter who I fucking was, you tried to kill a member of your own pack!” I shouted in rage and took a step towards her without thinking. She immediately took one step back, and looked up at me in fear.
“Whoa Klaus, don’t do something you are going to regret later. Let’s think things through first” warned Joseph in my mind.
I could smell her fear clearly now and that made me calm down a bit. She was fighting to not appear so frightened in her final moments. I could tell she was preparing herself to be killed, she was barely holding tears back. How can someone so tiny, weak and scared, try to look so brave? It was beyond me. Joseph distracted me by saying “Look, she clearly didn’t know who you were when she attacked you. She is just a girl not even 18, please just let her go back to the pack house with a threat. I am sure it will make her think twice before stepping foot outside pack territory again”
“I can’t let her go without punishment Joseph. First she broke the rules by attempting to runaway after I forbid anyone from leaving. And most of all, she tried to kill her alpha and got me injured. What do you think that will say about me in front of her pack if I just let her go without punishment? I’ll look fucking weak. If she were a guy, the pack would have witnessed their first execution by their new alpha for sure”
“So punishing a little innocent girl means nothing to you? All that matters is saving face in front of the pack?” asked Joseph in anger.
If it was someone else speaking to me that way, they would have had my wrath to deal with, as you don’t speak to your alpha that way. But Joseph was so much more than just my beta. He was my mentor even before I became alpha. Back when he was my father’s beta. He was also my father in law. Kate’s father. I held so much respect and love for him. I always listened to his advice. But things changed a little after Kate was murdered along with my unborn child. Losing a mate made something die inside of me. I became more violent, vicious, and strict. Even Joseph couldn’t get to me sometimes. But I could see it in his eyes this time. He was determined to save this girl. I don’t know why. Actually, I think I did. She looked a little like Kate. While Kate had deep blue eyes like her father, she had the same color of Ella’s hair, golden. Kate’s hair was wavy more than curly, but the color was the exact same. She also had the same kind of attitude.
“Look Joseph, if it was just about running away, I might have considered forgiving her, but she stabbed an alpha. I can’t have people think they could do all sorts of things and I will just stand by without enforcing laws and punishments, regardless of her age” I tried to tell him.
“No one knows what happened to you. It’s just us your inner circle. None of us is going to think less of you if you showed someone who deserves some mercy, you know that”
“Umm…actually, I kind of alerted our back up at the Grey’s pack about the situation and they kind of alerted everyone else. Don’t look at me like that Joseph, I didn’t know she was a kid. My alpha was almost killed, we needed to capture her” said Marcel, one of my inner circle and a pretty strong soldier of mine.
“Well, now I definitely can’t let her go without punishment in public. I have to make an example out of her or everything I worked for will come tumbling down on me” I told Joseph making up my mind.
Joseph shook his head at me “I can’t believe you just said that. The Klaus I know would have never had the heart to hurt a girl”
I sighed in frustration and said in a deadly low voice “Joseph, take her back to the pack house and lock her up in a cell. She will receive her punishment first thing in the morning”
How could he think that I would actually look forward to punishing her tomorrow? I didn’t want to hurt her. I haven’t become a monster. Losing Kate damaged me, but it didn’t make me a sadistic bastard who enjoys punishing people for the fun of it. Being alpha means doing things because it’s the right thing, that doesn’t mean I want to do them. She tried to kill me, I have to show them that no one can mess with the alpha without paying the consequences, even a little girl.
“Do you have a wolf Ella?” joseph asked her.
“No, I am a half blood with no wolf” she answered unashamed of who she was. I get why she said it like that. She thought we would be disgusted by it. Alpha Grey did a number on his half bloods, making them feel less than everyone else. Little did she know that when it comes to half bloods, I was very strict about treating everyone the same way, equally. And so does everyone in my pack. I’ll have to make that point very clear to my new pack. I won’t tolerate any pure blood that treats half bloods in a lesser manner.
“Ok then, we have a long walk ahead of us, let’s go” he gestured to her to start walking. That was my cue to shift back and go back to the pack house to decide what her punishment is going to be.